Showing papers by "University of Bedfordshire published in 1970"

Measurement of tomato firmness with a universal testing machine

Abstract: A technique of punch-testing tomatoes to measure the firmness of the different anatomical parts has been developed. A plunger with a 0.040 inch diameter tip tapering to a 0.020 inch diameter shaft is attached to the crosshead of an Instron Universal Testing Machine and driven into the tomato at a speed of 1 cm/min. Distinct peaks are observed on the force-displacement trace which are related to the firmness of the various parts of the structure. The method can be used to follow changes in firmness during ripening, to detect ripening abnormalities, to measure differences between varieties and to detect variations in firmness over the surface of individual tomatoes.

Dielectric relaxation studies by time domain spectroscopy.

Abstract: DIELECTRIC relaxation has long been recognized as a powerful method of studying the physical state of a system containing polar molecules or groups At the same time a number of inevitably time-consuming frequency domain techniques are usually required to cover a reasonably wide range of frequency, each demanding the highest degree of experimental expertise We report here the application of one variant of time domain Spectroscopy (TDS) to the study of dielectric relaxation processes in the frequency range 10 MHz–15 GHz, to illustrate the enormous potential of this method, by virtue of its simplicity of operation, for the relatively rapid estimation of the parameters usually associated with a dielectric relaxation process

The thesaurofacet: a multipurpose retrieval language tool

Abstract: A description is given of the English Electric ‘Thesaurofacet’, a faceted classification and thesaurus covering engineering and related scientific, technical, and management subjects. A novel feature of the system is the integration of the classification schedules and thesaurus. Each term appears both in the thesaurus and in the schedules. In the schedules the term is displayed in the most appropriate facet and hierarchy: the thesaurus supplements this information by indicating alternative hierarchies and other relationships which cut across the classified arrangement. The thesaurus also controls word forms and synonyms and acts as the alphabetical index to the class numbers. The resulting tool is multipurpose, as easily applicable to shelf arrangement and conventional classified card catalogues as to co‐ordinate indexing and computerized retrieval systems. The reasons are given for modifying certain traditional facet techniques, including the choice of traditional disciplines for main classes, the lack of a ‘built‐in’ preferred order, and the me, in certain instances, of enumeration rather than synthesis to express multi‐term concepts. Methods of application of the Thesaurofacet in pre‐coordinate and post‐coordinate systems are discussed and a brief account is given of the techniques employed in its compilation.

An interpretation of an empirical formula for the coercivity of polycrystalline iron

Abstract: It was previously found that thre was a simple empirical relationship between the average of certain measurements on spike-like magnetic domains observed on (110) surfaces of crystals in iron and silicon-iron and the coercive field of the samples An approximate formula was calculated for the field strength required to cause such domains to expand irreversibly, and it was found to be similar to, but not in close agreement with the empirical formula for the coercive field The similarity was sufficient to suggest that the shapes of the hysteresis loops of the specimens were mainly governed in the region of the coercive field by this irreversible expansion, rather than by the domain wall impedance effects which one would expect to predominate in magnetically harder materials A more detailed theoretical analysis now shows that the field strength at which irreversible expansion of the `spikes' occurs is quite close to the coercive field as obtained from the empirical formula

Addressing the Anxious Reality of First Year Experience (FYE) In Higher Education: A Comparative Study of Research-Informed Student Support Models in Two UK Business Schools

Abstract: This paper evaluates the reality of first year experience (FYE) in two UK Higher Education Institutions, highlighting a gap between reported versus experienced anxiety amongst students. The paper draws on contemporary literature exploring the value of high quality discourse, via personal tutoring and coaching models, advocating ‘a whole-of-student, whole-of-organisation’ approach to FYE support within undergraduate business studies. The merits of contrasting an integrative curriculum model of personal tutoring and a coaching process model are considered. Informed by secondary and primary research, both approaches situate rich student-led dialogue central to fully understanding student issues, supporting them through their challenging and transformative first year of study, thus enabling more effective engagement with their learning and support.

Logging data in digital form.

Abstract: This paper is not written from any special knowledge of the data-logging requirements of nutrition experiments, but from some experience in assisting fellow scientists and engineers in logging and processing their ‘data’. Powerful aid can be provided by digital computers, backed by data-logging equipment, but in individual cases the benefits have to bc balanced against both the cost of automatic logging and the time required to programme a computer for thc subsequent data processing Further deterrents may be unfamiliarity with the various forms of data recording equipment that are available commercially and uncertainty about their relative usefulness for a given experiment, for there is continuing advance in the performance of equipment and in the development of digital computers. I n the latter there is a trend towards greater cost and power on the one hand, and towards smaller size, lower cost and increased portability on the other. Smaller computers, integral with data-logging units, may remove the convenient division between the logging and the processing stages of data handling. Any survey of the cost or performance of data-logging techniques is liable to be out of date in a year or two, but certain types of equipment are now being produced commercially which will probably provide the basis of logging systems for some time to come. Statements about the spheres of application of such equipment are therefore of value. Before attempting such a survey of data loggers the reasons for choosing digital equipment should be considered, for the stages of development at N.I.A.E. over the past few years (Matthews, 1967, 1969) are probably relevant to aims of many other experimental establishments.